Friday Finds - Sarah Hearts

Just found a fabulous new -- to me -- blog with some super cute computer background downloads.  Suddenly, being at work on this beautiful Friday just got a little more tolerable :)  My new background is so fun and festive now! 

I'm already excited to see what the next month will look like! Be sure to check out Sarah Hearts and be prepared to do a ton of browsing this afternoon.

p.s. i know i've been mia for many many months -- i have a ton of catch up to do with this little blog of mine.  we've had some major life events around here so i'm hoping to provide some updates and start posting more regularly -- stay tuned! 

Someone Got a Haircut

So of course, a little photo sesh ensued.

This is a typical Nollie picture with at least one ear flopped back and a soaking wet beard from dunking his face in his water bowl -- apparently he couldn't wait until after his photoshoot.  He is the happiest puppy that ever lived so the wide-open-mouth smile is also pretty standard around here, too :)

This next photo is a little blurry but I love it because it highlights his super obsessive toy behavior.  Mr. Cow Cow is his current favorite and he is seriously the first thing Nolan looks for when he wakes up in the morning or when I let him out of his crate after work.  I try to cry quietly as he jets past me to find him every evening.

Getting pampered is apparently very exhausting.  Shiloh has her spa appointment in one week so I'm sure more photos will be coming -- can't wait to have two freshly pampered pups!

Oh, and because no good post is complete without a 'before' and 'after', here is Nollie's handsome transformation -- seriously love that sweet boy face!

Lucky Lady

Spending the day with this handsome man...

I'm a lucky lady :)

Love you, boyfriend!

T-Shirt Quilt -- Prepping & Cutting Blocks

The last thing I had done with my t-shirt quilt was decide on a quilt layout and roughly cut around the images of the shirts I planned to use.  You can see that process here and how I was left with this pile of shirt pieces. 

Since t-shirts are a more flexible fabric, it's important to line the backs of them with a stabilizer to keep them from stretching too much and losing their shape.  I used a lightweight fusible interfacing that I found at JoAnn's for this step.  How much you need depends on how large your quilt blocks are going to be and how many shirts you are using. 

To adhere it to the back of each shirt, I grabbed a t-shirt square and laid it face down -- in this case, I was working on the smaller front pieces so I did two at a time.  Roughly cut a piece of interfacing to lay on the back, making sure it covers all your fabric, or is slightly larger than the size you plan to cut.

Use your iron and press the interfacing to adhere it to your shirt. Move your iron over the different parts of the interfacing until all of it has adhered.  Some things to note: pressing is important over ironing because the interfacing itself has a textured surface and your iron does not glide across it well. You also want to make sure you are not pressing the front of your shirt because some of the printed parts could melt from the heat.

Once the interfacing has been added, you can cut each block to the desired size. I mentioned in my first post that I had planned to use 12" blocks, so my cutting ruler was 12.5" by 12.5" for the full quilt blocks and 4.5" by 4.5" for the smaller ones.  For the blocks which contained three long pieces, I cut them 12.5" wide by 4.5" tall.

I used the grids on my square template to try and center my block as much as possible. I also tried to make sure that any wording wouldn't end up slanted by aligning it with one of the grid lines. This image was one of the few that was easy to line up but for some shirts -- especially ones that are really worn -- the image will be skewed no matter what, so just try to make it line up as much as possible.

Repeat these steps with all of your t-shirt fronts and backs until you have a pile of quilt blocks ready to go.

Next up, piecing together the quilt top!



Let It Snow

I finished another quilt and this one is all ready for the holiday season!

I used a "Let It Snow" layer cake and a simple tutorial from The Polkadot Chair to put it together.

I love the turquoise added in with the traditional holiday colors to make it a little more fun and modern. I used a green snowflake for the back and turquoise dots for the binding.

To quilt it, I used diagonal lines spaced 3" apart which created these cute little diamonds all over.  In a happy accident, it also created a large diamond in each of the blocks.

The final size ended up being 44"x58", just a couple inches short of crib sized.  I don't really have a need for this quilt so if you're interested in it, message me for details -- I'd be happy to give it a new home :)

Heaven

Last week I decided to give myself a little gift this Monday morning -- a vacation day!  I'm so glad I took this day for myself and am loving this break from my normal weekday routine. Right now I can be found still in my pj's with a cup of coffee in hand, watching "Kelly and Michael" and catching up on some of my favorite blogs.

The rest of the day will involve lunch with boyfriend, a little errand running -- without the normal weekend crowds, -- some cleaning, and some sewing.  

Off to soak up this wonderful Fall day because it's back to reality tomorrow -- Happy Monday!

Rainy Day Quilt

Staying in on this rainy Saturday and starting a new quilt...

I decided to just rummage through my fabric bin for this one.  Updates on this bright, scrappy quilt soon!